This is from Africa.com. 

We should commend the SoS and his fine staff for ensuring that farmers are paid in full with promisory notes this time around.

Nevertheless on my way home I found myself doing some number game. The question, how much a farmer gets paid for every hour spent on farming groundnut? 
The report said 120 million dalasi is enough to buy all the available nuts for the season. Assuming 250,000 Gambians engaged in groundnut farming, and each spend 10 hrs on their fields for 10 weeks of the year, how much is it worth to farm? 
250,000 farmers  * 10 hrs* 10week-season is equivalent to 25,000,000 gambian hrs for the season. 120,000,000 dalasi paying for 25,000,000 amounts to just under 5 dalasi per farm hr! TWO TAPALAPA per hour!
Hmmmmm.

Have a good weekend.

Malanding


A Rare Case of Trade Season

    
        
    

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The Independent (Banjul)

January 14, 2005
Posted to the web January 14, 2005

Sana Camara
Banjul

The Secretary for State for Agriculture Sulayman Sait Mboob has informed the National Assembly that GAMCO, a newly registered dealer in groundnut trade has budgeted about $4 million, an equivalent of D120 million, fittingly enough to buy all the available nuts for the season.

Explaining the aptly stance of the government in this year?s groundnut trade season, SoS Mboob said among the six dealers that have applied for license from the government to purchase Gambian nuts, GAMCO is the only one which has ready cash on them to purchase nuts on the spot without credit buying, as one of several conditions required for the season?s operation.

On the financial strength of the company, SoS Mboob indicated that GAMCO has the sum with Gambian banks :Standard Chartered accounting for $1.5 million (about D45 million); Guaranty Trust $500,000 (D15 million); Trust Bank over D30 million.

Though he indicated that ?GAMCO has enough money to purchase all the nuts available for sale in the trade season and for the first time without credit buying?, SoS Mboob revealed that all the six companies that have applied for license had been subjected to rigorous screening on a set of conditions as pre-requisite for issuance of the license.

This, he added include the availability of funds (cash on the table), funds to provide quality of chemical dust necessary for protecting the quality of nuts purchased; and proofs that proceeds accruing from the export of the produced will be ?ploughed back into The Gambian economy.?

He also noted that a new regulatory framework governing the marketing of groundnuts ? especially for this year?s season, has defined certain eligibility criteria, which prospective companies must fulfill before they would be issued with a license.

While digressing off from revealing the names, SoS Mboob, upon insistence of the National Assembly Members listed six including: GAMCO, Premier Agro, Royal Enterprises, and Ghaston. He said history had made the season possible, when two days after the commencement of the trade season, over 4000 tonnes of purchased groundnut have been transported from buying points to G.G.C depots, as oppose to a long standing tradition where nuts spend very long times at buying points before transporting them to various depots, noting that buying has been effected at 43 different locations countrywide.

?GAMCO has sub-contracts with 70 private dealers, to whom it has disbursed over D10 million. Under the new system, it has been worked out between GAMCO, the private dealers (traders), insurance companies and commercial banks. 'Traditionally, participation in the trade season means private dealers have to have a compound in Banjul to use its documents to obtain a bank guarantee'. Today, that is no more: we have a system whereby insurance companies have agreed to provide a guarantee in the form of a bond to anybody who wishes to register as a trader, including the cooperative societies. Also, GAMCO has agreed to pay a commission of 900 per tonne to each private dealer that signed a contract with GAMCO. Out of this amount, insurance companies will retain D300 as collateral to be able to provide you with a guarantee fund to take to GAMCO- so that at the end of the day GAMCO will be able to sign contracts with private dealers and provide them with finance in an imprests form,? SoS Mboob explained.



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